


spellbound

by hypercatt



Series: witchin' [1]
Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, Magic AU, School, Witch AU, hexes, kind of, procrastination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 09:56:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21251519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypercatt/pseuds/hypercatt
Summary: Craig gets a hex. It's not really a big deal, though.





	spellbound

The only people in the library at 5am were either really smart, or really desperate.

Craig definitely fell into the latter of the two groups.

Sunlight was barely just creeping in through the windows, and the lights were still so dim that Craig had to narrow his eyes as he stepped through the aisles of books, trying to avoid passing by any tables. It was way too early for anybody he knew to be sat with their nose stuffed in a book, and at least three of the people he’d seen so far had been fast asleep, but even still. If he could avoid getting spotted here at this time, then he would. Even with his inclination to be awake at night, 5am was too late for most Lunar Witches, and too early for anyone else.

It was definitely wasn’t a normal habit of his to sneak into the library this early, anyway. This was probably even the first time he’d stepped into this dust-covered depression hall within the past six months or so. No, the only reason he was here was because they had a test tomorrow, and Craig hadn’t studied. At all. So now, he only really had one choice left.

Craig stopped at the end of the aisle, leaning closer to read the title of _‘[843.21]_ _The Importance of Music Witches in the Revolutions of 1634-1687’_. Maybe that was something Jimmy might be interested in, but it was still way off what Craig was looking for. With a frown, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper he’d hidden there earlier. 945.43. Then it couldn’t be too far from here.

Well, so long as the rumours were true.

The glow of the lights seemed to grow even dimmer as Craig ventured deeper into the library, the layers of dust growing thicker on the shelves. That was probably a good sign. The more foreboding things got, the closer he probably was to finding what he needed.

The others liked to hold study sessions together, and though Craig often ended up getting dragged into them, he could never really get into the habit of actually reading any of his notes. Or more accurately, reading Token’s notes, since Craig didn’t really care enough to write down any of his own whilst in class. Even in a studious environment like this, he still didn’t really feel any desire to study. But then, he didn’t really feel like failing his test and having to redo it all over again.

That’s why, aided with hints from rumours and a tipoff from _Eric Cartman_ of all people, he’d discovered that an untouched area of the library offered blessings for people like Craig, who didn’t really want to study. A blessing known as cheat-books.

The mildly helpful signs pointing to each row of books had long disappeared by this point, so Craig stopped again, leaning close to see the number. 927.33. He was close. It had to be here somewhere.

Bending down, Craig started to move along the rows of books, glancing over the somewhat obscured numbers and indecipherable titles. It was hard to see, and maybe if he’d had planned this better he could’ve brought something to help him see so this wouldn’t be taking so long. But, then again, it was probably better if he stayed more hidden.

Apparently, the cheat-books were pretty straightforward to use. All he had to do was give a quick flip through the pages, and he’d be good to go for his next exam or essay or whatever he wanted. Quick enough that he could escape the library and get back to his room before Clyde could wake up and suspect him of anything.

Craig ran his palm over the spines of the books, clearing away the dust so he could see the numbers. 944.79...944.95...945.23...

945.43. Bingo.

Careful not to disturb the other books on the shelves, Craig tipped the book forward, letting it fall into his hand, and frowning at the sudden burst of dust. Clearly the people at this school were way too moral if this was how abandoned the cheat-books were. Or maybe everyone had just forgotten this part of the library even existed. Maybe they never even knew in the first place.

Well, whatever. Time to get this over with. Craig leaned back a little, prying open the stiff pages of the book and glancing down at the page.

And then, the world fell away beneath his feet.

-

By the time Craig woke up, the sun was shining viciously through the windows, and he pressed his eyes shut as he looked away, frowning. It wasn’t usually this bright in their room; had Clyde forgotten to close the curtains or something? Then Craig opened his eyes again, and realised he was slumped in a library aisle, the weight of a hardback book covering his hand. Oh, right. He’d almost forgotten about all that, for a moment.

Cracking his back a little, Craig sat up, slotting the book back into its place on the shelf and looking around. Well, that could’ve gone better. Not at any point had anyone mentioned passing out the second the book was opened, so Craig was pretty sure that hadn’t been supposed to happen. And now his back hurt. And he was late for class. And probably had a hex, or something.

At least luck seemed to be on his side in that nobody had stumbled across him whilst he’d been unconscious in a dubious part of the library, and he didn’t run into anybody else until he was back in the library’s main hall. A few more people were stationed at the tables now, but none of them spared him a glance as he slunk past, only raising his head to check the time on the huge clock looming overhead. It was already twelve. Damn. He’d already missed three classes. This was not the best way to start a day, honestly.

Still, even if the first three hours of the day hadn’t included him, Craig could be pretty sure that their usual schedule was still in place, and made his way out the library. He was starting to feel like maybe he’d been there for weeks, slumped amongst the stuffy smells and oppressive aura. It was a relief when he stepped outside into the sunlight, feeling the cold autumn breeze against his face. Not that his magic had any ties to nature, but libraries were just gross places, no matter what Token said.

It was a further relief when he spotted Clyde, Token, and Jimmy all sat up against the wall in their normal spot, talking amongst themselves and not looking any older than when he last saw them. Okay, definitely hadn’t been more than a few hours since he’d passed out, then.

“Craig!” Clyde called out as soon as he spotted him, jumping up and waving. The other two turned as well, giving him a look as he walked over to join them. “Where were you? I thought you’d been kidnapped or something!”

Craig shrugged, sitting down on the grass.

“You h-haven’t been in class a-all morning,” Jimmy added, frowning at him, and Token joined in with the mildly disapproving stare. They probably weren’t going to let this one go.

“Went to the library,” Craig started, watching as Token opened his mouth to give the obvious retort of ‘but you never to go the library’. “I was going to use a cheat-book, but I think I got hexed. Maybe. I might just be tired.”

“You got _hexed_?” Clyde asked, staring at him, before scooting back a little. “I’m not gonna catch it too, am I?”

“Hh-hexes aren’t contagious,” Jimmy said, though Clyde’s wary look didn’t falter. He kept his eyes on Craig as he shovelled another handful of chips into his mouth.

“Did you really get hexed trying to cheat on an exam?” Token asked, sounding half-disappointed and half-unsurprised.

“Maybe.” Craig wondered if maybe he could steal some of others’ food, since he didn’t have his lunch with him. “Like I said though. Maybe I was just tired.”

“Was it a written hex? Maybe I could take a look-“

“I dunno what it was. I passed out as soon as I opened it.”

“I didn’t even know our school _had_ cheat-books,” Clyde muttered, looking thoughtful. “You think it’d work for me too?”

“I-if you wa-want a hex too,” Jimmy said, grinning at him. Clyde pulled a face.

“Maybe not.”

“It’s probably not a big deal,” Craig said, shrugging again. “Who knows, maybe it worked.”

“I doubt that,” Token said, shaking his head. “You’re lucky something worse didn’t happen. I’ve read about some hexes like that being pretty serious.”

“He seems okay now, though,” Clyde pointed out, mouth full as he spoke.

“Well, it can take time to show, sometimes...”

“I’m fine,” Craig said, leaning to the side a little. “Any of you guys wanna share? I’m starving.”

Token sighed, before he handed him his bag, chockfull of food, as always. Craig took it with appreciation. Token always had the best lunches.

Craig let himself settle a little, already feeling more awake than he did ten minutes ago. It was probably just a one-off, just a minor inconvenience from trying to take the easy path. Definitely not a big deal.

-

His words had been enough to convince his friends until, in the last class of the day, he passed out again.

Craig had never really been too much into sports, choosing to trail along the back and only join in when given no other choice, so he didn’t really care too much when his legs gave out again and he landed face down in the dirt. And he hadn’t even fully gone unconscious this time, so it was even less of a deal than before, but the other three had still become unnecessarily concerned.

Now he was being hauled by Token and Clyde along the corridor, with Jimmy following in tow. Class had already ended, so Craig didn’t get why he couldn’t just go back to his room and wait it off, but apparently they were determined.

“It’s not good if you’re passing out every five minutes, dude,” Clyde said, already breathless with the effort of dragging Craig along. “What if it’s- really serious?”

“I’m fine,” Craig muttered, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“We had to tell the teacher you had heat stroke,” Token carried on, stopping to pull Craig’s arm over his shoulder a little more. “It’s like, fifty five degrees out there. What are we meant to say when winter starts? You need to get this sorted out before someone realises you were trying to cheat.”

“Won’t the nurse figure it out...?” Craig muttered, almost to himself more than the others.

“We’re not g-going to the nurse,” Jimmy said beside him. Craig just about managed to move his head enough to shoot him a questioning look.

“Where...?”

“You remember Tweek, right?” Clyde said, and Craig let out a groan. Of _course _he remembered Tweek. He’d been in their classes for the first couple years of school, before he’d slowly showed up less and less to each class, before finally disappearing for good. If it wasn’t that Craig sometimes saw him around the school grounds, he would’ve thought maybe Tweek really _did_ just disappear.

“Not Tweek,” Craig moaned out, trying to will the energy back into his legs to stand up and start walking away.

“What’s wrong with Tweek?” Token asked, and Craig kept quiet. Nothing was _wrong_ with Tweek, other than him being kind of jumpy, but the thought of being dragged in in front of him because of some stupid hex he’d landed himself- it made him want to crawl into a hole and die.

“I remembered though, he’s pretty good at potions,” Clyde continued. “Maybe he’s got something that’ll get rid of the hex!”

“Can’t Token do it?” Craig asked in a last ditch effort to escape the sudden humiliating fate placed upon him.

“If it’s a hex, it’s way easier to cure with potions than tomes,” Token said. “Besides, I don’t even know that much about hexes. Tome Witches don’t really get taught that stuff.”

“T-Tweek’s a smart gu-guy,” Jimmy said. “He’ll fuh-fu-figure it out in no time.”

If this was part of a punishment from his friends for trying to cheat, it was definitely working. Craig already regretted ever going into that library this morning. Not even because of the hex, but because of having to see _Tweek_, of all people. Maybe he could just- fake being unconscious, so he could ignore everything. Or maybe that was worse. Ugh.

Craig knew the east side of the school existed, but he’d never had any reason to go there before. He hardly even went to his own magic’s types rooms, let alone anyone else’s. It probably would’ve been useful to look up and see exactly what the Home Witch rooms were like, but right now, Craig had to settle for just admiring the floor. Which- pretty much looked the same as the rest of the school. Amazing.

But as soon as he heard the doors to the room opened, Craig pressed his eyes shut again, trying to come up with any kind of plan to escape this. Or at least, pretend it wasn’t happening. Any moment now he was going to hear Tweek’s voice asking what was wrong with him and probably judge him for cheating like the dumbass he was-

Clyde’s grip on him loosened slightly. “Hey, Tweek! Long-time no see.”

_Here we go-_

“Ack- Clyde? Token? _Craig-? _What’s-!”

“Oh, Jimmy’s here too,” Clyde said, moving a little to the side, probably to let Tweek see Jimmy too. Like that was the most important thing going on here.

“What’s _happening_?” Tweek asked, voice rising in panic, and Craig wished he could look up, but then also was very content just staying acting like he couldn’t hear any of this and that he didn’t have any part in this situation. “Ngh, is Craig okay?”

“Fuh-for the most part,” Jimmy said. “But he got a hex.”

“A _hex-?_ Ack, that’s- kind of serious, right?? Agh!”

“We’re not sure yet,” Token said. “We were hoping you might be able to help out.”

“_Me_? That’s, agh, kindofalotofpressure, don’t you think??” Tweek moved a little closer to him, and Craig kept his eyes shut. “Is he...awake??”

“He was before, but maybe he passed out again,” Clyde said, before jostling him a little. “Hey, Craig! You still with us?”

As much as Craig wanted to keep ignoring them all, he couldn’t resist the urge to weakly raise one of his arms to flip Clyde off, before letting it heavily drop to his side.

“He’s awake,” Clyde huffed. “And still an asshole.”

“Do you, mm, maybe wanna put him down??” Tweek asked, voice trembling a little “There’s some- cushions, over there...”

Looking around the room was a little easier from down on the floor, and it also meant that he wasn’t as much the centre of attention. Craig cracked an eye open, glancing around whilst the others spoke. From what he could see, it seemed pretty cozy, with its warm colours and soft looking furniture, and definitely smelled a lot nicer than the familiars’ room. It would really be a great place for a nap.

“So it, agh, happened after opening the book?” Tweek’s voice asked. “It...does kind of sound like a hex, but, ngh, they don’t normally start that quickly...”

“Maybe it’s just a really quick hex?” Token suggested, and Craig suddenly felt the four of them looking down at him. He flipped them off again, the gesture feeling easier now. Maybe the sudden weakness was starting to wear off, thank god.

“Do you think you can fix it though?” Clyde asked. “As much as he’s an asshole, I don’t really want him to die or anything.”

“_Die?_ N-no way, man, hexes from cheat-books aren’t strong enough to do anything like that, agh!!”

“I’m not going to die,” Craig mumbled. “It’s not a big deal.”

“You keep saying that, but you’re the one knocked out on the floor right now,” Token said.

“But, um, I can probably make something for it,” Tweek continued. “It’ll be a few days though.”

“Really? That’s awesome!” Clyde leaned down, grinning at him. “See, I knew someone would be able to help.”

Craig pushed himself up with shaky arms, looking around the room again. The walls were lined with jars of ingredients and empty bottles, and there were gentle lights scattered throughout the room. Craig had always assumed that potion mixing rooms would be all dark and creepy, but this was the complete opposite of that. Though, thinking about it, a place like this did suit Tweek a lot more. The warmth of the room matched his own.

“But, agh, if he passes out again, please bring him here again! I need to make sure it isn’t anything different!!” Tweek exclaimed, shaking slightly, and the others nodded. Craig was really hoping it wouldn’t come to that. He wasn’t sure how many times he could face Tweek seeing him be dragged unconscious along the floor.

Besides, it still wasn’t really that big of a deal.

-

Apparently the ordeal hadn’t dissuaded the others from organising their usual study session that night, much to Craig’s chagrin. Hex or not, they still had that exam tomorrow, and Token and Jimmy had been insistent on last-minute studying. Craig didn’t really see the point.

He watched as Stripe ran across the blank page in front of him, feeling himself smile a little. As his familiar, it was supposed to help his magic ability flow whenever Stripe was around, but Craig just liked to watch him run away. Pressing a finger between Stripe’s ears, Craig watched as a small hat popped up, identical to the ones they wore for class, before Stripe took back off around the table.

“Oh my god,” Clyde said as Stripe ran up to him, pressing his hands against his cheeks. “How does a Guinea pig pull off that hat better than me?”

“Are you two at least _trying_ to study?” Token asked, raising an eyebrow. Clyde glanced away, and Craig just kept his eyes on Stripe. “You know the main reason we do this is to help you two.”

Craig did know that. Clyde was a Social Witch, which meant his magic was stronger with more people around, and Craig’s secondary typing was Lunar, so he worked better at night. But he wasn’t all that convinced it made any difference. Night or day, studying never seemed appealing to him.

Craig sighed, resting his head against his arms on the table. Even Clyde was making an attempt to copy notes from the book, though he hated studying almost as much as Craig. Clyde was a lot better at the practical stuff though. Craig wasn’t good at any of it.

“Y-you’re not falling asluh-asleep again, right, C-Craig?” Jimmy asked, glancing at him with his usual easy smile. “If you need help, just ask.”

“I don’t need any help,” Craig muttered, eyes still stuck on Stripe. The hat had already disappeared. “Maybe the cheat-book will work, who knows.”

“You’re putting your faith in something that gave you a hex?” Token asked, staring at him.

Craig shrugged. “Might as well.”

“If it does, you’ve gotta hook me up too,” Clyde said, grinning at him. “I don’t care if I pass out if I can get an A!”

“You don’t need cheat-books to get an A,” Token said. “Just studying.”

“Yeah, but that’s easier said than done,” Clyde said, looking down at his notes with disdain.

Craig glanced back down at his blank page as well. Yeah. A lot easier said than done.

-

By the time Craig was actually walking into the exam, it was starting to feel like nothing was even real. Everyone was making such a huge deal over it, standing with notes outside the classroom and joking about needing calming potions, but Craig just felt detached from the whole situation. All he was going to do was walk in, stare at the pages for an hour, and then leave again. They’d eat lunch together after like usual. And the grades would disappear until they received their scores in a few weeks, but that was so far away that Craig didn’t care.

It was just another thing to pass him by.

He kept his eyes on the desk as the paper was placed in front of him, wondering if they would allow him to sit there for the entire hour without even turning it over. Maybe he’d just write his name. He might even get a mark just for doing that, for proving that he knew how to hold a pen.

The teacher gave the signal, and the test began. Craig begrudgingly turned over his test after a few seconds passed. It would too boring to sit here for an hour without doing anything, and he might get in trouble if he fell asleep within the first five minutes.

A quick glance at the question confirmed his suspicions that he knew nothing about the subject, and it would probably be pretty useless to even try and answer. With a sigh, Craig picked up in his pen and started to write his name. Y...T...

...That wasn’t his name.

Craig frowned, glancing at his pen, before scribbling out the letters. He wasn’t _that_ dumb, he knew how to write his own _name_. B...X....

These weren’t the right letters. Why wasn’t his hand listening to him? Craig scribbled out the letters again, narrowing his eyes at the paper. Then, just as suddenly as before, everything went black.

-

It took a moment for Craig to figure out why he was waking up on the floor to the sight of a light orange room. As soon as he realised why, the feeling of both embarrassment and irritation hit him. Those guys...they must’ve brought him back here after he passed out in the exam.

Oh, damn. The exam. He hadn’t even started it. In fact, he hadn’t even managed to write his name. Was that just a side effect of being about to pass out...? It had been weird, whatever it was.

Trying to see if Tweek was in the room with him, Craig pulled himself up, but got his answer before he could even look around as there was a loud yelp from across the room.

“Y-you’re awake!” Tweek exclaimed, glancing over at him from his place over by a pot. No, not a pot. They were called cauldrons, he was pretty sure. “Are you, ngh, okay?”

“I’m fine.” Craig looked to the window. Well, at least it wasn’t dark yet. “What time is it?”

“Ngh, around three?? You’ve, mm, been asleep a long time...”

“Guess I really did get a hex then, huh.” Craig rolled his shoulders back before leaning forwards, watching as Tweek gave whatever was in the cauldron another stir. Something in his expression seemed worried. “But maybe I was really tired, too.”

“Aren’t you getting enough sleep?” Tweek asked, turning to look at him. Craig shrugged and looked away.

“I’m Lunar. I prefer being awake at night.”

“Oh, is your secondary type Lunar-? I didn’t know.” Tweek glanced over to an open book beside him, narrowing his eyes a little with concentration. “But- ack! Even still! That’s not an excuse to develop unhealthy habits. You have to, nghh, take care of yourself.”

Craig stared, feeling embarrassed for some reason. Token gave him these kind of telling offs too, but there was something different about when Tweek did it. “...In...the exam, I couldn’t write properly. Is that part of the hex too? Or is my brain broken.”

“You, ngh...couldn’t write...?” The concerned look on Tweek’s face intensified, starting to morph into full panic. “Agh, I really don’t get it!! I can’t find any hex that would work so fast _and_ knock you out _and_ mess with your ability to write, gah!! Whatisthis!!”

Tweek made a grab for his hair, pulling down, and Craig spoke up again. “I’m not sure it’s nothing bad. You said yourself, cheat-books don’t have dangerous hexes in.”

“I know that, but...!”

“Are you working on it now?” Craig asked, gesturing to the cauldron.

“Ngh, yeah.” Tweek gave it another stir, as if just to distract himself rather than for any actual reason. “This is the stuff that- normally works on cheat-book hexes. But, mm, it’s not done yet.”

“That’s fine. At least I got to miss my exam.” Even though he’d probably have to do it again at some point. If they even let him retake it. Moving his thoughts away from that, Craig pulled himself up from the ground, taking a moment to appreciate how soft the cushions laid out were. Maybe they were enchanted. “Is it hard to make?”

“Th-the potion? Um, not really.” Tweek turned his attention back to the cauldron. “Just, ngh, one of those ones that takes a while.”

“I remember you were good at stuff like that though,” Craig said, thinking back to the years when Tweek had often brought in simple mixtures for the others in the class, like anti-cold or warming potions. Only Home Witches took potion class though, so Craig had never actually seen him make one before.

“I’m not- agh! Really that good,” Tweek said, glancing to the side. “I just...follow recipes.”

“You’re making that sound way too simple,” Craig pointed out, walking slightly closer. “Last time I tried to cook, Clyde almost had to call Bebe in to douse the fire.”

“I doubt it was that bad,” Tweek said, but he was smiling a little now. “Oh, um, speaking of that, did you want anything to eat? Since you missed lunch...oh, but- if you’d, ngh, rather go back to your own room to eat or something, that’s fine too!! I mean, ack, you don’t even really need to stay sinceyou’renotevenasleepanymore-!!”

“I don’t mind staying,” Craig said, wishing he could make those words sound as expressionless as his usual tone. “What do you have?”

“Just some, ack, stuff from the gardens,” Tweek said, moving away from the cauldron with jerky movements. “Since we get a lot of ingredients from them, they, mm, give us a lot of stuff to eat too.”

“From the Garden Witches?” Craig only knew one Garden Witch, and it was Stan Marsh. He wasn’t really sure he wanted to eat anything grown by that guy. “It’s not dangerous, right?”

“What?!” Tweek shot up from the cupboard he was rummaging in, giving him an incredulous look. “Of course not! Why would you think that, ack?”

“...Just making sure,” Craig muttered, thinking back to all the drama Stan and his crew caused on a near daily basis. Then again, it was Tweek who was offering, and Craig had faith in him not to hand over literal poison. Even still, he couldn’t help but give a dubious stare at the ‘fruit’ Tweek handed him. It looked more like a pod than anything else, though Craig couldn’t figure out exactly where he was meant to open it.

“Haven’t you eaten one of these before?” Tweek asked, staring at him.

“I haven’t even seen one of these before.”

“What do you even eat??” Tweek asked, and Craig copied him as he opened it open from the bottom, pulling out something white from the inside.

Craig shrugged, taking a bite. Kind of bitter, but not that bad. “Whatever’s easiest.”

“You know it’s better for your magic if you eat natural stuff.”

“Probably.” Craig was pretty sure he’d heard that before, but it seemed like a lot of effort for improving something he wasn’t even that good at anyway. For a moment, Craig looked around the room, letting his eyes rest on the glint of the sun against the bottles. Being able to engage properly in magic was probably pretty amazing. “I messed up that test.”

“It wasn’t the final one though, right?” Tweek asked, swallowing the last of his fruit. “And, ngh, you can probably say you were sick or something. Since you passed out yesterday too...!”

“Maybe.”

“And now you have more time to study,” Tweek said, then glanced at him. “Were you trying to, mm, cheat, because you don’t get it? Maybe you should try group study, or something?”

“We already do that,” Craig said, looking down. “It doesn’t help.” He paused, glancing to Tweek’s fidgeting hands, and then to his face. “...You could join, sometimes. If you want. Maybe.”

“...Oh,” Tweek said after a moment, and Craig wondered if maybe that was weird to say. Tweek already had this room to stay in, and it was probably nicer than the common room by their rooms- “Okay. Maybe- sometime.”

When Craig looked back up, Tweek was smiling, just a little.

-

As much as Craig wanted to just go back to his room and disappear for the night, he felt an odd sense of obligation after talking to Tweek to at least explain the situation. It wasn’t like it would make a whole lot of difference, but...Tweek was probably expecting him to. So it would be kind of a dick move not to.

The door was already open when Craig reached the classroom, and a pang of disdain hit him when he saw his teacher sat inside, still busy with work. Not that it was late enough in the day to expect his teacher to be gone already, but, still.

“Sir,” Craig said, staying lingering by the door as he peered in.

“Oh, Craig,” he said, looking up from a stack of papers on his desk. The feeling of disdain grew when Craig realised he was already marking their tests. As if he needed another reminder. “Awake now?”

“...I guess.” Craig let his eyes drift over to the side, staring at the bookshelf. This conversation was already dragging on him, and it had only been five seconds. “I think I was sick.”

“You ‘think’?”

“Yesterday too,” Craig said, lacking the energy to explain properly. “That’s why I couldn’t do the test.”

“Yes, I’ve already seen that,” his teacher said, glancing at the stack of papers. Then he sighed, looking up at Craig again. “Well, you weren’t the only student who skipped out today. I can let you do a resit next week, but that’s your last chance.”

“Cool,” Craig said.

“It won’t be the same paper,” the teacher continued, and Craig swore inside his head. There went his plan of asking the others for all the answers. “So make sure you take another look over your notes.”

“Okay.”

“I hope to see you next week when you’re feeling better.”

“Yup.”

Craig turned around without saying goodbye, digging his hands into his pocket. It was probably a good thing that he was being allowed to resit, but the thought of another week with the weight of needing to study hanging on his shoulders wasn’t really that appealing.

Even with the sky starting to darken outside, as well as an entire day lost to sleep, Craig still couldn’t say he had any more energy than usual. It had been fun to talk with Tweek earlier, but now things were back to normal. If it wasn’t for the hex, he almost could’ve been in the exact same place he was a week ago. Still with a deadline looming, and still with no desire to open a book and study.

Clyde was lying back on his bed when Craig pushed open the door to their room. The comic he was holding up dropped against his face as he sat up, making an expression that would only be appropriate if Craig had been gone for at least five years.

“You’re not dead?” Clyde asked, eyes wide.

“Nope.” Craig stepped past him easily, bending down to look in Stripe’s cage. Of course Clyde had forgotten to feed him. People without familiar magic really couldn’t be trusted with animals.

“Me and Jimmy were making bets on if you were dead.”

“Tweek wouldn’t let me die,” Craig said, opening up Stripe’s cage and letting him crawl onto his palm. Craig tried to feel if he could sense any extra magic flowing through him at the contact, but the only sensation he could feel was Stripe’s whiskers brushing against his fingers. Clyde was quiet for a moment, and Craig could feel his stare on him.

“Did he say when the cure’s gonna be ready?” Clyde pulled himself up a little more, letting his legs dangle over the side of the bed. “It’s gonna be super annoying if we have to keep dragging you across the school. You’re kind of heavy.”

“You didn’t have to drag me anywhere,” Craig muttered, putting Stripe back into his cage and picking up the food bowl.

“The teacher noticed, dude! The entire class did. Your head made a super loud bang when it hit the desk, you know.” Clyde frowned. “Anyway, Tweek said to take you if it happened again.”

Craig just shrugged, focusing his attention elsewhere. “You didn’t feed Stripe.”

“No way, dude, I’m not going near him. He’ll bite me again.”

“He doesn’t bite.”

“There was blood everywhere! You _saw_!”

“That was just because you stuck your fingers through the bar,” Craig said, rolling his eyes.

“Why can’t you have a _nice_ familiar?” Clyde continued to sulk. “Get a cat, or a dog, or...something.”

“Stripe is nice,” Craig said, watching as his guinea pig hoovered up the small strands of hay he’d put down.

“Nice to _you_, maybe,” Clyde muttered, then sighed. “Anyway, I totally screwed up that test. You’re lucky you slept through it.”

“I have to retake it next week.” Craig sat down on his bed and continued to watch Stripe.

“That’s pretty lucky, since you didn’t study,” Clyde said, then paused. “And, kind of hexed right now.”

“Mm.”

“I hope Tweek can help you out.”

“He can,” Craig said, leaning back on his own bed.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Clyde carried on. He was being kind of talkative tonight. Maybe he’d been bored without Craig there. “He’s good at potions, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And he’s pretty cool, right?”

“...I guess?” Craig said, shooting Clyde a look.

“You two used to be good friends, right??”

“...I’m going to sleep,” Craig said, turning over to face the wall. From behind him, Clyde let out a huff.

“It’s not even late yet!! And you’ve just been asleep all day!”

“I’m still tired,” Craig said, not turning around.

“Asshole,” Clyde muttered. Craig didn’t reply.

-

It was a lot earlier than he was expecting when Craig woke up, but then again, he _had_ gone to sleep a lot earlier than usual the night before. There was a dull strip of light seeping in through the gap in the curtains, and Craig wondered if the moon was still out. Maybe this was his chance to finally get something done. A blessing of the early morning, or...something like that.

Craig stretched as he sat up, noticing Clyde still fast asleep on the other side of the room. He would probably get annoyed if Craig wasn’t back before he woke up, but. Craig had pretty much been missing the entire week. One more day wouldn’t make a difference.

Giving Stripe his breakfast, Craig momentarily considered taking his familiar along with him if he was going to try and be productive, but decided against it. It would be a pain if he went missing. Especially since there was always the chance someone like Stan might come along with his asshole dog and cause trouble. It would be better if Stripe was just left safe in his cage.

After collecting his hardly-used notebook and his bag, Craig set off wandering through the corridors, unsure of exactly where he was headed. At the back of his mind, he found himself thinking about Tweek, and if he would still be awake at this time, working on potions in that cozy room at the east of the school. But, probably not. And even if he was, it wasn’t like Craig was just going to go and visit him. That would be weird. Probably.

Instead, Craig kept walking up and down various corridors, listening to the sound of his footsteps echoing off the walls. It was easy just to walk aimlessly through the school, with no plan of where he wanted to go, but that wasn’t really his intention. Today was Saturday, and he had all day to try and study.

All...day.

Muscle memory must’ve taken over him eventually, as he found himself headed to the spot where they normally ate lunch. It was weird being there alone. Craig was almost expecting to hear Jimmy’s voice telling him the right page as he took out his textbook and put it down on the grass. Looking at it, Craig wasn’t really sure wanted to study anymore. He’d rather just sit here and do nothing all day, just the way he liked it.

...But, then again. Not studying was what had caused everyone so much trouble so far. Including Tweek. If he really was still awake in the potion room, then it was probably Craig’s fault, since he was making the potion for his sake. It was annoying, but he had this nagging feel that he should at least _try_.

...But trying wasn’t really the same as actually doing it. Craig could figure that much after realising the amount of sentences he’d read was the same amount of hours that had passed. Three lines of his book, and he couldn’t be bothered anymore.

Studying for this stuff didn’t really matter anyway, in Craig’s opinion. Maybe for people like Token, whose magic was based off writing and books, it might be useful, but for Craig it made no difference. All that really mattered was how well he could use his magic, and- he could work on that whenever he wanted. Not for tests or anything else, but just in day-to-day use.

Besides, he could get through life without magic. There were lots of jobs without magic, so. It wasn’t a big deal. Really. So it didn’t matter that Craig only had read three lines and had barely passed through the first paragraph of his textbook.

Shoving the books back into his bag, Craig cracked his neck and pulled himself up, yawning. Maybe he could go back to sleep. Though Clyde would probably just wake him up again ten minutes later, demanding they go get breakfast together. And Craig wasn’t really in the mood for eating. Maybe he could just go back to walking around the school again. That hadn’t been so bad.

Now that it was late morning, there were a few more students lingering around the school. Some heading to the library, which Craig had solemnly swore to never step back into again, and some going to their respective magic rooms. It had been a brief thought to maybe go sit in the familiar room for a bit, but none of the other pets were as fun as Stripe. And some of the cats in there gave Craig dirty looks. He didn’t trust that.

A group of girls passed him as he walked up another corridor, and Craig had to step back against the wall to avoid getting carried away. It had never made sense to him why girls had to walk like that. But then, most of what girls did made no sense to Craig.

Whilst leaning back against the wall, Craig let his eyes drift over to the wall across from him, which was covered in leaflets and posters for various events around the school. A scholarship for the top math students. The annual broom race for Sky Witches. A list of teacher conference hours.

“Ah-! Craig?”

Craig blinked, turning away from the wall to see Tweek standing there, an empty basket shaking in his hands.

“Hi.”

“How, mm, has the hex been today?” Tweek asked, twitching a little. Craig shrugged one of his shoulders.

“I didn’t pass out yet.”

“That’s- probably good?” Tweek said, quirking one of his eyebrows. Craig wondered how Tweek’s face always seemed to have so much expression when just smiling was enough effort for him. “I was actually just, ngh, going over to the conservatory to get the plants I need for the last part of the potion. You can join- ack, if you’renotbusyImean!!”

“No,” Craig said. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Then we can go together!” Tweek said, smiling, and Craig just nodded, stepping beside him. “I think it won’t be too busy, since most people have already been by this time. Well, maybe you know a better time, but, gh, this is when I normally go...”

“I’ve never been before,” Craig said, mind drifting to his earlier memories of school. Now that he thought about it, he really hadn’t been to any magic rooms other than his own, and Clyde’s, maybe once.

“At _all_?” Tweek almost looked alarmed. “Don’t you need food for your familiar, or something, ngh?”

“I just buy it from the store,” Craig said, quickly following as Tweek took a sudden sharp right. He walked as swiftly as he spoke. “Besides, it’s not like I know any Garden Witches. Other than Stan Marsh.”

“Oh, I see him there sometimes,” Tweek said, then frowned. “I think he looks kind of down.”

“I heard a rumour his dad only lets him grow stuff that he can sell now.”

“Huh? That’s- ack, awful! You shouldn’t tell other people how to use their magic.”

_I’d prefer it if someone told me how to use mine_, Craig thought distantly, but kept silent, almost tripping as Tweek took another rapid turn for the stairs.

“This is the south wing,” Tweek explained as they went up. “Most, mm, of the ingredients we use are from here.”

“I guess you must come here a lot.”

“Mm, well, Garden Witches and House Witches are pretty closely linked,” Tweek said, pausing at the door at the top of the stairs. “I’m only House though, so I don’t, ngh, grow my own stuff.”

“I bet you could, if you wanted to though,” Craig said. “I can’t picture you being bad at anything. Even stuff outside your magic.”

“No way, man!” Tweek exclaimed, shaking his head violently. “The plants would probably die as soon as I looked at them, agh!”

“Nah,” Craig said, shaking his head, and Tweek just shot him a look. Well, let him believe that. Craig was pretty convinced otherwise.

Tweek pushed open the door and hurried through as if he was under some kind of time limit, and Craig followed through behind at a much slower pace. Instantly, he could smell the fresh smell of flowers and plants, and the vibrant sight of green. It was starting to feel like they’d been cheated with the familiar room, which was mostly sawdust and scratched wood.

“I’ll just, mm, be a sec!” Tweek said, again hurrying across the room and joining with a couple of girls over by a few desks that, like everything else in here, had been totally dominated by leaves. Craig let himself wander around the room, careful to duck his head to avoid being bashed by a low hanging branch.

Maybe it _would_ be better to come here to get Stripe’s food. Craig didn’t really care that much about plants, but the atmosphere was relaxed, and Tweek had been right about it not being too busy. Coming here in the night might be kind of cool, since the ceiling was just one giant skylight. It was the same as the Lunar Witch room, except here was a lot closer and there were no half-asleep first years trying to find compatibility in their star signs. Like it was that simple.

“Craig!” Tweek’s voice called out, and Craig turned around to see him hurrying towards him through the leaves. “Ngh, sorry about that. I’ve got everything now.”

Craig glanced at the basket Tweek was carrying, now full of various seeds and flowers that Craig hadn’t seen before. “All of that’s for the potion?”

“Oh- no! I just thought I’d get some other stuff whilst I’m here.”

“Oh.” Craig wondered what other types of potions he made when he wasn’t trying to heal annoying hexes. It was all still pretty untouched territory to him. Maybe he could ask Tweek to explain it, sometime.

“I’m gonna soak these petals overnight,” Tweek said, rummaging through the basket and pulling out a red flower. “If you come by tomorrow, it should be done! So you won’t, ngh, have any problem anymore. Ack- probably!! If it works, I mean.”

“Oh.” Probably not enough time left to ask about it, then. It wasn’t like Craig had any excuse to talk to Tweek outside of this whole hex thing. Well, other than he wanted to, but. That wasn’t a good enough reason, probably. “That’s cool.”

It ran through his mind briefly that maybe he could ask to join Tweek back at the potion room so they could talk some more, but something about that felt kind of...embarrassing. Like it was too obvious, or something. So Craig kept quiet as he followed Tweek out of the room, leaving the almost-too-sweet smell of flowers behind him.

Besides, he had not-studying to do.

-

“It’s raining,” Clyde said, looking out their window. Craig cracked open an eye, not moving from his bed.

“Yup.”

“Like, raining super hard,” Clyde said, shooting a look at him.

“You just said that.”

“Dude.” Clyde took a step back, grinning at him. “If it’s rain, then that’s water. And Bebe likes water! Maybe if I ask her out right now, she’ll be in a good enough mood to say yes!”

“...Clyde, you’re a dumbass,” Craig said, closing his eyes again.

“But it’s worth a shot, right?” Clyde asked, and even without looking, Craig could feel his defensive pout. “I’d ask you to come wingman for me, but you’re literally the worst wingman to ever exist.”

“I can’t anyway,” Craig said, then finally willed himself to sit up. True to Clyde’s word, the rain was coming down hard outside, and he could hear it against the window now he was paying more attention. “Gotta get the potion from Tweek.”

Clyde gaped at him. “You’re not gonna be hexed anymore??”

“Nope.”

“Dude, that’s awesome! You can come to our study session again tonight to celebrate. _And_ to celebrate me finally getting a date with Bebe.”

“Sure,” Craig said, already knowing that tonight was probably going to be the three of them trying to console Clyde as he wept his heart out over another rejection. At least it meant no studying.

“Token’s gonna bring snacks too, so you gotta come,” Clyde carried on, and Craig just nodded. Clyde was easier to cheer up when he had food, so that was probably lucky. “When do you get unhexed?”

“I dunno.” Craig glanced at Stripe, who was half-asleep. “He just said today. Maybe I’ll go now.”

“Yeah, dude,” Clyde said, then grinned at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t offer to come wingman for you either.”

“Wingman for what?” Craig muttered, pulling a face, but left the room before Clyde could give him any answer.

It only hit him maybe halfway to the potion room that maybe he should have brought a jacket or something, since he couldn’t do magic involving rain and he had to take an outdoor route to get to the other side of the school. He’d just have to run, or something. Hopefully Tweek wouldn’t laugh at him too much.

Craig stopped at the edge of the door, frowning as he looked out at the pathway. There were enchantments in place to keep it from flooding, but he’d still get pretty bombarded with rain no matter how fast he went. Not even his bag to use an umbrella.

With a sigh, Craig readied himself to run across. It was only a few more steps after that to get to the potion room. Pretty easy. He could do this. In one...two...

Craig took a step forwards, and everything slipped away again.

-

The first thing Craig thought when he opened his eyes was how cold it was. Like, seriously, freezing, to the point where the tips of his fingers felt numb. And that was probably because he’d just managed to be unlucky enough to pass out in the only part of his walk where he had to go outside, in the rain, literally minutes away from getting rid of the stupid hex for good.

Except, he wasn’t outside. There was something familiar about the smell in the air, and Craig shifted slightly, feeling something soft beneath him. He was inside? Maybe he dreamt the whole thing, and he was waking up back in his room all over again, ready to hear Clyde talk about the rain.

“Ack- you’re awake!”

...That wasn’t Clyde’s voice.

Craig sat up, recognising himself in the potion room yet again. This was starting to become too familiar of a sight, even if it was slightly less embarrassing with each time he woke up here. Still. It was a good thing today was going to be the last day. For the most part.

“Ngh, drink this,” Tweek said, hurrying over to him and handing him a small cup full of dark orange liquid. Craig stared at it, the warmth of the cup warming his hands.

“Is this for the hex?”

“Ack, no! It’s to warm you up.” Tweek fidgeted his hands together, frowning down at him. “You passed out- in the rain!! You could’ve died, ack!!”

“I feel fine, though.” Kind of cold, and kind of out of it, but mostly fine.

“You should still drink it,” Tweek said, and Craig tipped the cup back, instantly feeling his body warm up. It reminded him of when they were younger, and Tweek used to bring stuff like this to class in the winter. The taste was familiar, the same as it had been all those years ago. “You’re, ngh, really luck Butters found you, you know.”

“Butters?” Craig frowned, trying to think. “The Puppet guy?”

“Puppets is only his secondary type,” Tweek explained, taking a step back to the desk. “He, mm, spends most of his time here.”

“Huh.” That made sense. Crazy people like Cartman tended to have Puppet magic. Butters just...didn’t seem to fit that type of thing, but then again. Craig had heard stories about him flying off the handle more than once. Hopefully he was more normal when he was in here with Tweek.

“Your potion’s finally done though!” Tweek said, brightening a little from his serious tone, and Craig pulled himself up. Now he was off the ground, he could see into the cauldron Tweek was stood in front of, and stared at the turquoise liquid shimmering back at him. “Now you won’t, ngh, pass out in the rain again. It was scary to see you out in the rain like that.”

“...Oh.” Something about that made Craig feel guilty, in a weird way. “Sorry.”

“No, ack, it’s okay!” Tweek twitched, before scrambling to grab another glass from underneath the desk. “Just- I really hope this works and doesn’tkillyouoranything!!”

“No way, dude.” Craig watched, almost amazed, as Tweek managed to pour the contents of the cauldron into the glass, not spilling a drop even though his hands were twitching non-stop. Was that just part of his magic? Or maybe he was just really good at it. Either way, it was cool.

Still shaking, Tweek thrust the glass to him, squeezing his eyes shut as he did. Craig took it carefully, almost worried that whatever was keeping the liquid so still would wear off as soon as it left Tweek’s hands. Without wasting anymore time, Craig threw it back, tasting something almost minty as he did.

“Did- did it work??” Tweek asked almost immediately, opening his eyes back up and glancing up and down. “You’re- ack, not dying or anything, right?? You gotta tell me if you’re dying, man!!”

“I’m not dying,” Craig said, trying to see if he felt any different to before. “How do we know if it worked?”

“Umm...” Tweek frowned in thought for a second, before spinning around and yanking up a drawer behind him. The intensity of his rummaging knocked a few papers to the floor, and Craig watched with mild amusement. Tweek span back around with a pen and some paper, slamming them down on the desk. “You said you couldn’t write before, didn’t you?? Try- now.”

“Oh, yeah.” Craig took the pen and once again tried to spell out his name. This time, the letters stayed as they were supposed to be, and he nodded. “It worked, then.”

“A-are you sure??” Tweek peered over his shoulder at the paper, pursing his lips. “Oh god, unless it’s one of those times where it seems like it worked for the first few seconds but then as soon as you relax everything starts going wrong and youturnintodustorsomething, _ack_!!”

“I’m not turning into dust,” Craig said, and Tweek eyed him warily. “You made the potion perfectly, and now I’m cured. You see? I knew you could do it.”

“Mmm...” Tweek looked like he still wanted to argue, but after a few seconds, a hesitant smile appeared. “If...it did work, then, mm...I’m glad you’re better now.”

“Thanks for helping me, dude,” Craig said, and let himself smile back.

“That’s- uh, fine!” Tweek said, turning around to put the glass back on the counter. Then he stopped shaking as violently, taking in a deep breath and turning back again. “It was fun hanging out with you again, though. If- you want, you can come visit whenever. I- don’t mind!!”

“...Right,” Craig said, wondering distantly if the effects of the warming potion from before were still lingering. “Thanks, Tweek.”

All in all, having a hex hadn’t really been that bad, Craig decided.

-

Even if now he was cured and back to normal, Craig still couldn’t seem to find the motivation to study. That shouldn’t have been a surprise, since all the potion was meant to do was reverse the effects of the cheat-book, but, still. Craig had been hoping, just a little.

“She didn’t say _no_,” Clyde was saying, resting his head on his hands as he frowned.

“Ju-just didn’t say yes,” Jimmy continued, and Clyde let out a hard sigh, letting his head fall against the desk. “Don’t ww-wuh-worry, Clyde. I’m sure there’ll be o-other rainy days.”

“You think?” Clyde said, looking up with a hopeful look. If Jimmy had intended it to be a joke, it had apparently passed Clyde by.

“Just wait for a flood,” Craig said, and Clyde shot him an uncertain look, as if he didn’t know if Craig was being serious. Well, up to him to figure that out.

“Hey, isn’t your resit tomorrow?” Clyde asked, reaching across the table to grab one of the many bars of chocolate Token had provided. “You’re not studying.”

“I am.” Craig made a vague gesture to the book laid out in front of him.

Token raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t even written anything.”

“I’m reading,” Craig said, shrugging. In all honesty, he was just feeling kind of tired tonight, with the room too cold to concentrate. If he hadn’t felt like studying all those others days, then he definitely didn’t feel like it now. He’d rather just be curled up in bed, watching Stripe play in his cage.

“Dude, you’re so gonna fail,” Clyde said through a mouth full of chocolate. “Like, even worse than me.”

“I don’t care,” Craig said, and then let those words sink in. He really _didn’t_ care. Whether he failed or not, it made no difference to him. It was just a test. He wasn’t going to die if he didn’t pass. Nothing was going to change either way.

“I wish I could be as chill as you,” Clyde sighed, resting his head against the desk and looking at his chocolate sadly.

“There’s ch-chill, and then there’s Cuh-Craig,” Jimmy said, grinning at him. Craig just shrugged in response, mind drifting back to thoughts of a warm bed and some sleep. It had been two weeks of trying to get stuff done, and he’d officially given up. From this point on, whatever was going to happen, was going to happen.

And Craig didn’t care.

-

A paragraph was probably better than nothing.

It hadn’t even been a good paragraph either. Mostly just Craig repeating the question and then saying it was probably true, or something. He’d written the word magic at least three times. That had to be worth something, at least.

The teacher gave him a look as he handed in the test, but Craig didn’t really care. And he didn’t care about failing, or what the others would say, or anything else. For now, he was done. He could finally recede back into his state of caring about nothing and doing nothing. Just the way he liked it. The way it was meant to be.

Once outside of the classroom, Craig realised he had no idea how to spend the rest of his day. The others would already be done with their classes, but Craig didn’t really feel like hanging out. Tweek had said he could go visit, but...it didn’t feel right. At least, not now.

Instead, Craig just kept his head down, watching his shadow as he passed through the corridors on the way back to his room. Maybe he could just sleep it off. The past few days, it was like he’d had a type of exhaustion he couldn’t shake off – probably because of the weight of the exam looming down on him. Now that it was out of the way, he could go back to feeling normal.

That was a good enough plan for him.

To his luck, the room was empty when Craig got back, and he laid down in his bed and let his mind drift away. It had always been easy for him to think about nothing. For a few minutes or a few hours, he could just- switch everything off. Life was easiest in those moments, though of course it never lasted forever.

Today as well, his moment of doing nothing ended when he heard Clyde come back into the room, always managing to make more noise than Craig even thought possible.

“Dude, you can’t spend all day moping because of one bad exam,” Clyde said, and Craig kept his eyes shut, turned away.

“I’m not moping,” he muttered, feeling cold even beneath the covers. Were they already so far into autumn that it was this cold? “I’m just tired.”

“All you’ve been doing lately is sleeping! What, are you hibernating or something?”

“...Maybe,” Craig said, suddenly wondering if that was actually possible. Stripe didn’t hibernate, but. Still.

“If you wanna come join us in the common room, feel free,” Clyde continued, and Craig could hear him standing up again. “Don’t worry, we’re not gonna study this time. Just chill.”

“I dunno. Maybe.”

“Well, you know where to find us,” Clyde said, and Craig listened to his footsteps grow quieter and quieter. It really wasn’t that he was moping over the test. He’d already decided he didn’t care about that. It was - something else. Like, thinking back to how he _could_ have studied, if he’d just cared a bit more. But even if he was put back another week, he was pretty sure he’d just do the exact same thing. So- it wasn’t really worth thinking about.

...But if he didn’t show, Clyde would probably tell the others that he was all depressed and sulking about an exam. Which wasn’t true. At all.

With a sigh, Craig pulled himself up, shivering slightly as the covers left him. A pang of jealousy hit him when he noticed Stripe bundled up in his cage, taking a nap amongst the scraps of paper. Life would be a lot easier if all he had to do all day was eat hay and take naps.

After making sure that Stripe had enough food for when he woke up, Craig reluctantly set out down the corridor. It seemed quieter tonight, and Craig wondered distantly if that was because of how cold it was.

It took longer to get to the common room without cutting through the history corridor, but Craig wasn’t really in any rush, and preferred to take his time. It didn’t make any difference to the others when he showed up, so long as he actually did. Besides, sometimes it was nice to just glance into the empty classrooms and imagine how good it would be to fall asleep in there, like his body willed him to do every time he sat through a class.

Kind of like right now, actually. Craig felt like his legs had already started to give up on him as he walked further, footsteps slowing down. It felt...actually kind of like before-

-

...

Not for the first time, Craig woke up on the floor.

This wasn’t a new feeling. After the first few times, Craig had pretty much grown used to that creaky feeling that hit him in the hours after waking up, and the general disorientation of finding himself much lower than he last remembered.

That wasn’t new, but the feeling of ice creeping through his veins was. Craig opened an eye as he tried to sit up, finding himself shivering violently. Seriously, this was weird. He was still in the history corridor, so why was it so cold? Even outside in the midst of winter, it never got this cold.

This just...didn’t feel right. Craig wasn’t always that great at picking up on feelings, but he could tell at least this time that something was seriously wrong. Knew that he couldn’t just drag himself back to his room and wait for it to pass.

The hex was still there.

With a shaking hand, Craig managed to wrap a hand against the handle of the locked door, and pulled himself as best he could. Suddenly he felt grateful for the others dragging him along before. It was a lot harder trying to walk by himself.

There was no way of knowing exactly what time it was, but a glance outside the window told Craig it was much later than it was when he’d set out. Based on how long he’d passed out for before, it might’ve already been the middle of the night. Which...wasn’t really ideal. Most people weren’t awake at midnight. And the people that were almost definitely weren’t hanging around in their respective magic rooms, still working.

But Craig had no other ideas. He had to see Tweek. And if he wasn’t awake, then he could just wait until morning. So long as he hadn’t frozen to death by then.

The potion room had never been that close, but it seemed to take Craig forever to force himself across the school and through those wide double doors. Light was spilling out from under the door, but that didn’t really mean anything. It could be another student in there. Someone might have just left them on. Maybe they never even turned them off, for potion-y reasons that Craig didn’t know.

With a half numb hand, Craig pushed the door open.

“Gah!!”

The sound of a scream and glass breaking had never given Craig so much relief, and he almost smiled as he leaned against the door, watching as Tweek turned towards him with wide eyes, fear quickly turning into confusion.

“Hi, Tweek,” Craig greeted, managing to take another step forwards and letting the door fall shut behind him. The room had its familiar warm orange glow as usual, but the ice in his veins hadn’t thawed out at all.

“C-Craig? What are you-“ Tweek stopped suddenly, gaze latching onto the hand Craig was using to hold himself up against the door. “What happened?! Oh god, ack, are you okay??”

“I just woke up,” Craig said, moving further from the door and closer to Tweek. “Sorry I made you break something.”

“What? Ack, no-“ Tweek gave a brisk point to the spill on the floor, and Craig watched as the glass and the liquid quickly reformed their original shape and flew back into Tweek’s hand. That was cool. Seeing people do actual magic was cool. “Does that mean- the potion didn’t work??”

“...Maybe.”

“Oh _god_!” Tweek immediately grabbed on his hair, pulling his head down. “I knew I was going to make it wrong, I always mess stuff up, and now I’ve probably given you something poisonous and you’re going to die and it’s gonna be allmyfault-ack!!”

“You didn’t make it wrong,” Craig said, and shivered again. “You fixed my writing.”

“What does that matter when you’re still falling unconscious all over the place!!” Tweek exclaimed, then paused, loosening his grip as he looked up slightly. “Ngh- are you okay?”

“Kind of cold,” Craig admitted, gritting his teeth together.

“Oh god, um- sit down, ack-“ Tweek put a hand on his shoulder, leading him back over to the cushions in the corner, and Craig took the advice gladly. “Oh god, gah- are you, ack, still tired? Where do you feel cold?? How long were you asleep for?”

“What time is it?”

“Uhh...around t-two?”

“Then I guess like, nine hours.”

“Oh god, that’s even longer than before!!” Tweek scrambled back over to the desk, using one hand to furiously flip through a large book resting on the side, whilst his other continued to pull at his hair. Craig kind of wished he wouldn’t do that. It looked painful. “I must’ve done something wrong, but I thought I measured everything out exactly, and I checked it so many times so I don’t know why it didn’t work, ack!!”

“Wait,” Craig said, thinking. “If it’s two, then why are you still here?”

“What?” Tweek blinked at him suddenly, then looked away again. “I’m just...”

“You sure you’re not a Lunar Witch like me?” Craig asked. It was meant to be a joke, but he wasn’t really good at them.

“I’m not!” Tweek said, continuing to flip through the book but slightly slower now. “I just...don’t sleep, that much.”

Craig raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you the one who said sleeping properly was important and all that?”

“You don’t get to lecture me about being healthy whilst you’re all, ack, shivery and hexed in the corner!!” Tweek shot back.

“But you are always here,” Craig said, suddenly realising just how much that was true. “Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve been here. Even when you were going to the conservatory, you came back here.”

“That’s- just because it’s my magic type,” Tweek said, frowning down at the book. Craig wasn’t even sure if he was reading it.

“Do you go to class?” Craig asked, and Tweek didn’t look up. “I’ve never seen you by any of the classrooms. Only like, in the corridor, once or twice.”

“...I just- get nervous in class,” Tweek said, fidgeting in place. “My, ngh, teachers said it’s fine for me to stay here if I keep up with my work, so...”

“You don’t need to be nervous,” Craig said, biting down to stop another shiver. “Come hang out with us.”

“I...”

“The others wouldn’t care. They think you’re cool.” Craig paused. “Clyde told me so.”

“O-oh...that’s...”

Another wave of cold washed over him, and Craig hunched up, squeezing his hands together in hopes it would stop the numb feeling from climbing any further. Tweek seemed to notice, and instantly his panicked movements started up again.

“Gah, I don’t understand!!” he exclaimed, taking a step to the right before seeming to reconsider, and hurrying over to the left of the room to root through a drawer. “Hexes from cheat-books aren’t supposed to work like this! They don’t start instantly, they don’t make you pass out, and they don’t get worse over time but yet all that’s happening to you, ack!! So why!!”

Oh, right. Craig had almost forgotten about what had caused this all in the first place. This morning already felt like weeks ago. His mind drifted a little as Tweek hurried back to him, and it barely even registered that Tweek had thrown a blanket around his shoulders.

“I messed up that test,” he said, and Tweek stared at him.

“What?”

“The one I was trying to cheat for. I didn’t study, so I couldn’t think of anything to write.”

“But- didn’t you get another week? Because of the hex-“

“Yeah.” Craig gave a weak shrug. “But I still didn’t study.”

Instead of looking disappointed as Craig had expected, Tweek just looked concerned. “Wh-why not??”

“I dunno. I kept meaning to, but. I didn’t.”

“Because of the hex?? Agh, I’m sorry, I really thought I’d-“

“Not ‘cause of the hex. Even if I didn’t have the hex, I’d still have done nothing.” Somewhere in his hazy thoughts, he wondered why he was saying all this now, but he’d already started now. “Everyone else knows how to, but I don’t. I tried studying with the others, and organising my notes. I even tried taking a potion to motivate myself, but that didn’t work, so. I thought I could just cheat. And even that didn’t work. So I fucked up the test.”

“Craig, you...” Tweek’s words died out, and he went almost unnaturally still. Craig frowned. Maybe now he was mad? Or something. It would make sense. Doing all that just to fail anyway was...pretty pathetic- “Oh god.”

Craig waited for the outburst, but Tweek just stared ahead as if suddenly fully distracted by something. Except nothing had changed. Did he get so mad he just...short-circuited, or something?

“You took- a potion?” Tweek asked slowly, turning to look at him. “To motivate yourself?”

“Yeah, but it didn’t work-“

“When??” Tweek asked urgently, and Craig blinked.

“I dunno, like...a day or two before the cheat thing.”

“...Oh my god.” Tweek put his head in his hands, trembling starting up again.

“What,” Craig asked, frowning. He hadn’t thought that was worse than trying to cheat. Wasn’t it more honest to try and speed things up rather than just skip them entirely?

“Craig, you’re-“ Tweek threw his hands out in frustration. “You’re so _dumb_!!”

_What??_

“Why didn’t you _tell me_, ack!!” Now he did look kind of angry, but it wasn’t the kind of anger Craig had been expecting.

“About-“

Tweek was already taking it out on the book, flipping through at an even more intense speed than before. “It wasn’t the stupid cheat-book that hexed you, it was the _potion_!! All the cheat-book did was give you that stupid writing thing- gah! Don’t you know that ingested hexes are way more dangerous than written ones??”

He didn’t know that, but it was slowly starting to make a lot of sense.

“Being scared of failure isn’t anything to be ashamed of!!” The pages kept flipping. “You won’t, ngh, make anything better by hiding it and suffering all by yourself! But now you did and it’s already been like nine days and I don’t know if I can make the antidote in time or if I can even make it all and _aaghhh_!!”

“Tweek,” Craig started. “It’s okay-“

“It’s not!!” He stopped at a page, staring at it as if he was about to burst into tears. “What if I can’t do this-“

“It’s my fault for not telling you-“

“I don’t want anything to happen to you!!” Tweek burst out, turning to him with a desperate look. It made Craig feel guilty in the worst of ways.

“...I’ll be fine,” he said, trying to at least sit up a little. “I know because it’s you.”

“But- what if I can’t??”

“I believe in you, Tweek,” Craig said, pausing. “...And not just because I might die if I don’t.”

“Agh...” Tweek still looked like he was holding down a wave of panic, but managed to turn back to the book, swallowing. “O...okay. I’m, ngh, gonna try. I think some of the ingredients we have already...I might be able to borrow some, nghh...and I’m pretty sure I saw this in the cupboard a few weeks ago...”

As fast as his apprehension had risen, it seemed to fade, and Craig watched as Tweek quickly started to scope around the room, moving from cupboard to cupboard. It was amazing how many ingredients he could carry at once without dropping anything, trembling hands and all.

“I’ll, ngh, try to make some more warming potions, when I can,” Tweek said, lighting up the stove for the cauldron with the flick of his wrist. “It won’t slow the hex down, but it might make you feel a little better, at least...”

“Thanks,” Craig said, a fresh wave of tiredness hitting him. Down here with all the blankets and cushions, he could almost fall asleep again. Yet he kind of wanted to stay awake, just to watch Tweek as he started to grind up and cut the ingredients, using his magic all the way. It seemed like a lot of effort. Craig could definitely have never been a Home Witch. “How come you don’t believe in yourself more?”

Tweek paused momentarily, glancing over at him. “What?”

“You could be super confident. And nobody would think it was misplaced, or something.”

“...Th-thanks...” Tweek muttered, looking back down to the desk. “I’ve just, mm, been doing this a long time. My parents have always made potions, so...”

“That’s cool.” Craig felt his eyes start to shut, too tired to concentrate anymore. He doubted Tweek would mind if he slept some more. Just a little.

It was hardly even embarrassing anymore.

-

However many hours passed after that point, Craig didn’t really know. His secondary nature had never really impacted him that much before, but with the effects of the hex, it seemed more prominent than ever. As soon as the moon disappeared from the sky and daylight flickered back in through the windows, it was near impossible to stay awake.

All he really remembered was the sound of Butters’ voice sometime in the early morning, and Tweek explaining something about his body was slowing down. That was probably bad, but Craig didn’t really have the energy to care. So long as he could keep sleeping, he was fine.

When the moon sunk back into the sky once again, his mind seemed to come back a little, and he opened his eyes enough to see the stars outside. It seemed like the night had only just finished, but then it also seemed like he’d been asleep for years. So long as he woke up, it probably didn’t matter too much.

“Are you awake again?” he heard Tweek’s voice ask, and Craig looked over just as he crouched down beside him. Even in his haze, Craig could tell there were bags under his eyes, and hoped that there was enough time for Tweek to at least have a nap. Had he even slept at all in the past fourty-eight hours? “It’ll be done soon, I think, ngh. Just...hang in there, Craig.”

“I’m fine,” Craig muttered. Tweek sat down beside him, head down.

“...It’s...okay, to not know the answers,” he started, voice small. “And it’s okay to make mistakes. Sometimes, you- try, and fail. But, mm. That’s okay too.”

“...I should say the same to you,” Craig said, slight warmth in his chest despite the cold. “It’s okay to be scared, too.”

“Yeah.” Tweek gave him a small smile. “It’s okay.”

“It’s okay,” Craig repeated.

“It’s okay.” Tweek nodded in agreement. “...I think I will try sitting with you guys, sometime.”

“Yeah?”

“They, mm, came here before, you know,” Tweek said. “They were worried about you.”

Oh. Craig had almost forgotten about that. The last time he’d spoken with Clyde he’d been stuck in his bed, and then suddenly disappeared after actually trying to go and be social.

“Clyde said you didn’t come back to your room last night,” Tweek said, almost as if he knew what Craig was thinking. “They, mm, thought you were sulking, but then when you still weren’t there in the morning, or in class...”

“I bet he was...super worried.” Craig could only imagine how much he’d been crying.

“They all were. They’re...good people.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re a good person too, Craig,” Tweek said then, turning to smile at him. Craig looked away.

“I haven’t done anything. All I did was try to cheat.”

“You helped me feel calm. And trust me, mm. That’s harder than it sounds.”

Craig shrugged. “Like I said. I think you’re cool.”

When he glanced back, Tweek was smiling down at himself. It was nice to see. Craig hoped he wouldn’t forget it once he fell asleep again. Right now, he wanted to stay awake just a little longer, whilst the stars were still out. He hoped that Tweek liked looking at them too.

-

“Craig...?”

A beam of sunlight hit his eyes as he opened them, and he frowned, shivering. It was too cold to be awake. Too bright.

Someone lightly shook his shoulder. “Craig, don’t fall back asleep! The potion’s done.”

Tiredly, Craig blinked his eyes open again, seeing Tweek bent in front of him again. Except this time there was a small vial in his hand, the light blue liquid staying put despite his trembling.

“It, ngh, only _just_ reached its brewing time like two _seconds_ ago, and we had to substitute one of the ingredients since it’s not in season right now but Butters says that you can substitute the root for the leaves and it’ll have the same effect so long as you grind it up beforehand so we tried that but I don’tknowifit’sgoingtowork but if not we can try again maybe but- ack!! I really hope it works, ngh...”

“Oh.” Craig forced his hand to move from underneath the blanket, and belatedly he realised there were two of them now. “Thanks.”

It was kind of hard to hold the vial when he could hardly even feel his hand, but somehow he managed it, throwing it down in one go before he could lose his grip. There wasn’t any warmth coming from the vial itself, but it felt warm in his throat, and then warm throughout his entire body. A kind of warmth that made him feel more alert, and more alive. Kind of like he’d just come out of a really good sleep.

“...Did it work??” Tweek asked, trembling as he bit his lip.

“Yeah.” Craig sat up, letting the blankets fall off him and stretching out. “It worked. You did it.”

Even though it was him who’d just been brought of a cold haze, Tweek seemed to brighten up even more than him, eyes shining as he grinned. Then he shot forwards, wrapping Craig in maybe the tightest hug he’d ever had. Not that he minded.

“I’m so glad!!” Tweek said, squeezing him tighter before pulling back. “I was so worried! Ack, Craig, I’m sorry-“

“Sorry for what? You saved my life.” Craig shook his head. “I really am a dumbass, huh.”

“You’re not! You’re just learning.”

Craig bit back a smile. That was probably just a nice way of putting it, but even still. It made him a little better about everything.

“I should probably go and see the others, and let them know I’m not dead,” he said, suddenly thinking back. “I need to feed Stripe too. Clyde probably forgot.”

“Stripe?” Tweek asked, blinking at him.

“Oh. My familiar.”

“Ah, right.” He smiled. “Sounds- cute.”

“...You can come with me, if you want,” Craig said, not meeting his eyes. “Meet Stripe, and...the others too. If. You want.”

“...Yeah.” Tweek stood up, helping Craig to do the same. Not that he needed it. That potion had worked better than he thought possible. “I mean, mm, I have to make sure I didn’t mess up the potion again, right? Someone has to keep an eye on you.”

“Yeah.” The idea of having Tweek looking out for him didn’t seem so bad. With another small smile, Craig almost instinctively held out his hand. “Let’s go.”

It wasn’t until Tweek blinked at him with slightly flushed cheeks did Craig realise it was probably really weird and way too forward to just hold out his hand like that, because really nobody did that, and it wasn’t even like they were...

“Okay!” Tweek said, grinning, and slipped his hand into Craig’s before he could even think about pulling it back. “Let’s go!”

Well, potions might be able to make him feel good, but- Craig thought this was a lot better. Maybe just a little, he was starting to care about things more. And- that felt nice. From here, maybe he’d be able to figure things out.

At the very least, he could try.

**Author's Note:**

> a halloween fic, just in time!! i'm glad i was able to finish this ;w; the idea kind of snuck up on me!!  
ive been busy preparing a super long fic so it was nice to talk a break and write something light ;u;  
and creek is so always pure;;;; i love their dynamic so much;;;;;;  
thank you so much for reading and have a good spooky night!!


End file.
